September 18, 2020 

The Connecticut Sun advance to WNBA semifinals after crushing Los Angeles Sparks 73-59

Another disappointing playoff appearance for Derek Fisher and LA

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The Connecticut Sun advance to the WNBA semifinals following a 73-59 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night. Last season, the Sun swept the Sparks in the semifinals and this year, they had LA’s number once again.

Once again, Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner held it down for the Sun on both ends of the floor, finishing with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Thomas also contributed 5 assists and 7 rebounds, while Bonner dished 5 assists and grabbed 13 boards. Briann January also came up big for Connecticut, going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and scoring 11 total points in the win.

LA really struggled to score all night, shooting a collective 33.3% from the field on Thursday. Candace Parker and Seimone Augustus did their best, combining for 32 points and 17 rebounds but it wasn’t enough without Nneka Ogwumike, who missed the game due to a migraine. Chelsea Gray played 35 minutes, but only managed 4 points and zero assists — the first time since 2017 that she failed to register an assist.

Next up for the Connecticut Sun is a best-of-five semifinals series against the Las Vegas Aces. The Minnesota Lynx, who beat the Phoenix Mercury 80-79 earlier in the night, will play the Seattle Storm. Both series start on Sunday.

Written by Bela Kirpalani

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